One would think that Christians in general, and pastors in particular, would be exceedingly concerned with Paul’s admonition in 1 Timothy 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (NIV). However, in recent discussions of fallen pastors, this verse is curiously absent. I don’t think anybody could claim it has been emphasized. But might that be part of the underlying problem?

Sometimes it feels as if pastors fail morally more frequently than normal Christians. Just this last month, we heard about two more internationally-recognized pastors who brought shame on the name of God and his church through sexual sin. They join a rapidly mushrooming cadre of men who were once privileged to proclaim the unsearchable mysteries of Christ, but are now consigned to the heap of those branded “disqualified.” After a while, even the most optimistic among us can become cynical, wondering, “Who’s going to fall next?”

In light of such a pandemic, one would think that Christians in general, and pastors in particular, would be exceedingly concerned with Paul’s admonition in 1 Timothy 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (NIV). However, in recent discussions of fallen pastors, this verse is curiously absent. I don’t think anybody could claim it has been emphasized. But might that be part of the underlying problem?

In this essay, I intend to reflect on what Paul meant by the term doctrine in 1 Timothy 4:16, and why properly defining this single word is vital for pastoral ministry. I’ll conclude with some brief suggestions for more fully obeying this command. I write as a pastor primarily to other pastors (and prospective pastors) in the hopes of somehow preventing other ministers of the Word from disqualifying themselves.

Defining Doctrine

We should begin by reflecting on what Paul means by the term “doctrine.” When most Christians today hear the term doctrine, they think of truth statements about the character of God, the nature of Scripture, the person and work of Christ, and so forth, designed to be affirmed or denied. They may think of something such as the venerable New Hampshire Baptist Confession of Faith of 1833. With this understanding of the term doctrine, many assume that if a man is able to heartily affirm an orthodox confession of faith, he is watching his doctrine closely. And consequently, if an otherwise orthodox pastor fails morally, it obviously had nothing to do with his doctrine.

While in no way denying the importance of formal doctrinal statements, I’m fairly convinced that Paul intends vastly more than this when he charges pastors to carefully watch their doctrine. While watching one’s doctrine cannot include less than confessing an orthodox confession, it must include far, far more than merely that.

This conclusion is obvious from how Paul uses the term “doctrine” (διδασκαλίᾳ; often translated “teaching”) throughout the Pastoral Epistles. For Paul, Christian doctrine isn’t merely to be affirmed or denied, but it somehow produces godliness (1 Tim. 6:3). Doctrine is paralleled with the “name of God” such that to revile the one is to revile the other (1 Tim. 6:1). Our flesh is naturally repelled by true doctrine and attracted to the false (2 Tim. 4:3ff.). Properly teaching and embracing Christian doctrine results in the Word of God being protected from unbelieving slander (Titus 2:5), skeptics becoming ashamed of their skepticism (Titus 2:8), and non-Christians being attracted to the gospel (Titus 2:10). Perhaps most vitally, being careless with doctrine may result in the damnation of not only the pastor’s congregation but the pastor himself (1 Tim 4:16b)!

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